Zardoz is one of those movies that when you watch it you say, "What the hell?" But I'm a fan of pure crap movies, movies that would get a skull on this page, and I found this movie great. Great in a terrible way of course. First you must open your mind to the fact that this movie will make NO sense. Then just sit back and become confused and laugh at all the stupid stuff that happens. My favorite scenes (because of their sheer insanity) are the "I will not go to second level" scene, the "we will give you our knowledge through osmosis" scene, and the part where Friend talks gibberish for NO REASON! I've seen this movie 4 times and each time I laugh and think, "how mush acid does it take to make a movie like this?" And always remember that the gun is good and the penis is evil!

You have to realize the genre of movies at the time Zardoz was released. There were other "futuristic" movies released in the early part of the seventies that were highly stylized in their format. Some examples would be Logans Run, Soilent Green, Planet of the Apes, The Omega Man, Clockwork Orange, just to name a few. The big idea of this movie is that man will never be capable of controlling his own destiny. He will always be his own worst enemy.

I helped my then girlfriend, now wife do a paper on the movie when it was newly out, I think 1970. I had to see it about 3 times to get all the varied plot lines running through it and I have to say, each time I saw it something else occurred to me. Some interesting notes: 30 years or more ago this movie touched on a variety of hotly debated issues and technological improvements most had not even come close to thinking about at the time. How about genetic engineering for starters or the fact that we are now using CD-RW drives that create optical storage and I think we are getting close to the type of "crystalline" storage technology that was used in the movie (remember the ring or at the end the crystal that he was supposedly inside of...that part was a bit strange). The concept of nearly infinite storage of data inside crystals was a huge leap in science fiction.

Pound for pound, Zardoz has more great ideas than a lot of other contemporary films of the 70s. Boorman did a lot of research on the movie's higher concepts and even went so far as to spend some time living in a commune to get ideas about how to flesh out his concepts of the Vortex and the Immortals.

The problems with this film lie mostly with Boorman's uneven execution. At times it seems like performance art or sketch comedy gone horribly awry. Part of this is just the way things were in the 70s, part of it was just Boorman's style, and the rest of it was probably drugs.

This movie could have been a great bad movie. It had all the elements that would have made it an interesting scifi flick. Unfortunately, the final product was a disjointed and uninteresting film totally devoid of humor and that illusive element that draws you into the film and makes you want to care about the characters. It had its brief moments, but overall it rates a thumbs down.

I remember seeing this movie when it came out under the influence of a small amount of herbal THC and having absolutely no idea what I was seeing, only that it was really, really DEEP. It made a big splash at the time as having Sean Connery and a bunch of weird s**t, but it disappeared from the theatres after like a month because it was totally...um, indescribable. Like, the Man From Uncle was really futuristic at this time. So, seeing it again, I find pretty much the same thing: What the hell was this about? My e-mail address was Xardox for 10 years because of my memories about this movie. Well, now I've gone to some other obscure allusion.

Hmmmm. I finally saw this the other evening. I think it's both true that it was from the great era of stoner science-fiction films and that it at least attempted to be a film of ideas (unlike so many of today's SF films which are basically about space monsters and rayguns). In its surrealistic (Rene Magritte is referenced at one point, on a print in the Vortex room that Zed first explores) and even absurdist approach it was probably meant to reflect some of the New Wave of SF styles that were developed in the 1960s, such as Ballard and Dick. It is also true that cracks about the result resembling a Monty Python sketch or Rennaisance Fair are dead-on. In its own strange way, though, ZARDOZ remains more interesting a SF film than many of today's sterile big-budget spectaculars.

The Classical score has a good feel just like Boarman's _Excalibur_. Basically, this movie went a lot farther into the territory of an inevitably failed utopia than I can ever remember seeing on screen. For that reason alone I give it credit. The way I see it is if you feel the urge to watch _Logan's Run_ try this instead.

I like the freedom available to the director because of the time it was made in, I suppose. This film is a failure of sorts I certainly don't mind pilfering through and exposing others to.

The first time I saw Zardoz was on broadcast TV 15 years ago around 2am. It was great. So I rented it with a friend and saw what had been cut out. And it made far less sense. Now that's odd - how often does that happen? Was the TV "censor and whittle it down" person an unsung genius? What I got out of the uncensored version seemed to take away from the seriousness of the film - and of course it is too long ago to remember details. But I beleive I do still like this film, because when it's good its very good and when it's bad it's hilarious.

The Webley-Fosberry Automatic Revolver is real....I believe this is the only movie I've ever seen that has one in it. If you notice, Sean has to grab the top of the revolver and pull it backwards to cock and fire it. This is because he is shooting blanks (naturally) and there is not enough recoil to cycle the action. In real life firing the Webley-Fosberry caused the barrel and cylinder to recoil backwards, re-cocking the pistol and bringing a fresh chamber up to be fired.I loved Zardoz, having seen it in the early 70s. I think it's best stoned or drunk, as it was done when everyone was that way.....I am looking for a DVD version to go with the VHS video....... h brookshire

This is one of my favorite movies ever!My wife hates it but she says that I am just wierd anyway.This is definitely for the cerebrally movie minded.Intelligent movie art.I am now waiting on my copy of "The Fantastic Planet".Can't wait!

OMG, that was the funniest thing I've ever seen, its on again at 2am, I may have to sit up and watch it again. Toward the end, in the hall of mirrors/Crystal Floor when Zed confronts the Grim Horror of (shudder, gasp) INTERPRETIVE DANCE! Hehheheheeee, who can blame him? Many the time I've wished I had a gun in similar circumstances.

Did anyone else notice that he and Consuela seemed to be costumed as the doorman in the Wizard of Oz for that end sequence?